Little Songs
by ryttu3k
Summary: A series of Legend of Zelda drabbles. Features enough characters that I lost track of them.
1. Standing Still

**Title:** Standing Still

**Characters/pairing:** Link, Happy Mask Salesman

**Prompt:** Running

* * *

Every day, he hits the ground running.

It's time he needs and time he doesn't have, running himself ragged to save everyone. And every time he turns back the clock, his works get undone, his favours for everyone forgotten. Only the masks remain tangible truth that he was ever there.

And it not enough. If he tries to help the sisters at the ranch, Anju and Kafei don't find each other again. If he struggles against Goht (twice, four times, a dozen times, how many times?) to unfreeze the mountain, Lulu goes voiceless.

And all the while, the moon looms above, an eternal reminder that he can't stop.

Only once, he does. He stays in Clock Town, sleeping in a comfortable bed in the inn every night, ignoring the moon as it gets larger and Anju's face as it gets paler and more drawn, drinking in the milk bar ("Hey, kid, doncha think you've had enough?") and watching listlessly as the town prepares for a carnival that will never happen.

And then he turns back time and does it again.

And all the while, the Happy Mask Salesman is there. No matter what the hour, no matter what the day, he stands beneath the clock tower, the ticking of the clock drawing doom closer every second. He's a fixed point, the calm in the eye of the storm, Termina's doom radiating out from him. Link loves him and hates him for it.

Every day, the Mask Salesman stands still. And still Link runs.


	2. Autonomy Denied

**Title:** Autonomy Denied

**Characters/pairing:** Link, Farore

**Prompt:** Unexpected

* * *

Well, he can't say he expected to see _Her_ here.

For a long while, he simply looks at her. She doesn't look much like a goddess, but then, he's not sure what he expected a goddess to look like. ...Of course, he hadn't expected to die either, so it's turning out to be a rather unexpected day all around.

"You are... the Goddess Farore?" he finally asks, and his voice is whisked away like on the wind. "The Goddess of Courage?"

She inclines her head once, and he almost cringes at the overwhelming power behind her words when she confirms, "I am."

He nods once. "Why?" he croaks, feeling goosebumps rising on his arms, before clarifying, "Why me? Why was I your chosen?"

One slim hand reaches out and cups his cheek; he cringes back from the heat of her hand.

"You are courageous," she says softly, "A courage that stretches from creation to world's end. You are my Chosen and my favourite child - a Hero without end, eternally reborn to heal the hurts of the world."

And he can see it, now - set aside from life, he can see every rebirth set before him and behind him. Kokiri Forest, Outset Island, Ordon Village. His uncle, his parents in Calatia, lands that shouldn't be and never were and can't be.

"You never asked me if I wanted this," he nearly whispers, then raises his head and looks at his Goddess in the eye. "If you did, I would say no."

And he turns to walk away, never hearing her throw her head back and laugh, then her murmur of, "Now that took courage," as he goes.


	3. Courage

**Title:** Courage

**Characters/pairing:** Navi/Tael

**Prompt:** Stuck in a temple

* * *

To the untrained eye, they're two balls of light emitting short chimes and tinkly sounds. One blue, one purple, they bob in the air on delicate wings, illuminating the sparse room they're in.

To those who understand the ways of fairies, though, the sounds resolve in to a conversation.

"We really should wait for Link and Tatl to come back!"

"Ha! I've travelled with Link, you haven't. They're gonna be a while."

"Doncha trust him, though?"

"'Course I do! I just also trust myself! And I really think we should get back to him!"

"Aww, Tatl will look after him. Tatl looks after me all the time!"

There's a pause.

"And I look after Link. So we've gotta get outta here!"

"Why can't we just wait for them?"

"'Cause Link will be in trouble without me. Duh!"

"But he has Tatl, right? And Tatl helped him out loads in Termina, and he didn't have y--"

"..."

"...Aw, I'm sorry, Navi. I bet Termina was just... real easy or something."

"...Yeah. Hyrule's nothing like Termina! So we've gotta get back to him."

"Okay. ...Navi?"

"Yeah?"

"D'you... like Link?"

"..."

"..."

"Ew, no. He's like a... kinda stupid little brother."

"Oh! Okay."

"...Why do you ask?"

"..."

"..."

"...D'you like me?"

"...You're not so bad."

"...!"

"..."

"Right! Let's get out of this room. We have a Hero and my sister to save!"


	4. Burnt

**Title:** Burnt

**Characters/pairing:** Skull Kid, Majora

**Prompt:** Peace

* * *

He's a lonely boy with no friends, no friends at all, only the two fairies that follow him, a brother and sister who have each other, have each other always, while he has no one, all alone, friendless boy of the forest, the children turn their backs and the fairy boy who played with him gone and no one left to play - gone! - and he's all alone and he hates it.

And there's a man in the forest and the man might become like him or he might become bones or he might disappear and never return, but the man has a friend and the friend calls to him, a friend of purple and purpose and two great big eyes, and it's a face that calls to him, and it whispers things to the friendless boy's mind and it whispers _come _and_ peace _and_ friend_.

And he takes the mask for himself, the man doesn't need a friend and he does, lonely, lonesome, alone boy with only fairies for company, and the fairies don't understand him like his new friend does, and his friend doesn't need his old friends because they too are cruel, they turn their back on him, poor friendless boy, he'll make them pay, pay for shunning him, for turning their backs, make them all pay.

And he stands in a land of new people and none of them are his friends and he pulls death from the skies, punish them, punish the bad people who don't want to be the poor boy's friend, lonely boy watching the others play, always to the side, always forgotten, and he'll make them remember him.

He'll make sure he will always be remembered.

And peace spreads through his limbs as he watches them burn.


	5. Pretty Little Lies

**Title:** Pretty Little Lies

**Characters/pairing:** Impa, Ruto

**Prompt:** Telling lies

* * *

"You didn't tell him the truth."

Impa doesn't answer right away, gazing at the Hero as he lands feet first in the graveyard. There's a sad, pinched look on her face - the other Sage recognises it as regret.

That's fine. She has her own regrets.

"You saw them at the lake, did you not?" she finally murmurs, glancing across at Ruto, "Could you tell him?"

The Zora is silent for a little moment. No, she probably couldn't. Anything she felt for Link - and feel for him she still does - is utterly irrelevent now. Not with the pretty little lies they tell him. Not with how he looks at another.

Not with what she knows will happen.

"I could not," Impa says quietly, "Look at that boy in the face and tell him he's in love with a lie." Regret is etched deep in her face, hands loose at her side, red eyes sad. "That he loves a living disguise for the princess - one that was never supposed to have a life of his own."

Ruto doesn't reply.

"And when the truth comes out?" she finally asks.

"Then there will be no more cause to lie," Impa answers softly.


	6. Heroes

**Title:** Heroes

**Characters/pairing:** Kafei, Majora

**Prompt:** Heroes

* * *

There are no heroes here.

Kafei Dotour learnt that a while ago. He dreamt as a child of being a mighty hero, of cutting down enemies with a sword that gleamed like the stars, of vanquishing evil and being adored and loved and remembered.

And then he saw the men shoving and fighting and drawing blades that are dull and worn and stained with blood. He saw the girls being dragged in to alleys and the sneers that his friends gave to the Dekus and the dark glee that came from making oneself feel _powerful in control strong_.

And then there was the mask, and then there was the curse, and then there was a punishment for turning his back. And he fled, because no hero came to save him.

And now there's a child (_not a child never a child an adult in a child's body a child in an adult's body_) who dresses in green and holds a sword, and he fights and he cuts down enemies and he vanquishes evil.

And he's not adored. And not loved. And not remembered - deja vu ripples through every interaction, he's done this before, he's seen it before, but no memories. He doesn't remember the boy delivering letters and pendants and cutting down thieves.

He just watches, and is reassured that there are heroes.


	7. Shadowlight

**Title:** Shadowlight

**Characters/pairing:** Dark Link, Zelda

**Prompt:** Truth is relative

* * *

He comes to her at night, whispering in her ear as she frowns over a scroll or tosses and turns in bed, whispering truths and lies in her ear.

She knows that it's _his_ form, but he is not _him_ - this one is mad, an insane shadow, a reflection through a mirror that is irrepairably warped. Where _he_ speaks honestly, a smile in blue eyes, this one spins and weaves truths and lies in to pretty works that mean nothing.

He tells her of her own shadow, and a princess of blood and madness and darkness, and she wonders which is the one who can rightly be called Dark. She has spilt blood. She has seen the madness and the darkness caused by seven years of horror. The princess that looks like the Hero's shadow - is she more innocent than her?

She pulls truth and lies from his pretty words until she doesn't know which is which any more. Staring at blue eyes in a pale face in her mirror, she has a sudden desire to see it shattered, to stop the mocking stare of another. Her reflection craves the light as she craves the darkness.

He knows. And he laughs.


	8. Beauty

**Title:** Beauty

**Characters/pairing:** Poe Salesman, Link

**Prompt:** War

* * *

The war has been good to the Poe Salesman.

Ganondorf kills, the Poe Salesman profits. Fear and anger and resentment, blood spilt in battle for the strongest Poes, the most vengeful Poes, the Poes that scream and cackle and demand blood in repayment for their own. These are the Poes he craves.

And the Hero is a threat. The Hero means to destroy his master. The Hero means to stop the war. The Hero means to prevent a generation of Poes from ever existing.

So it's a subtle war he wages upon the Hero. Once vanquished, they return to haunt him, shrieking cackling presences even in the day, even as the sun burns bright. They wage a war against him even as Ganondorf wages it against Hyrule.

He sees the Hero one last time before he goes up to the Castle. I'll save you, he says, I'll save them all.

And the Poe Salesman is silent as the Hero saves him and destroys his beautiful war both.


	9. Big Ripples

**Title:** Big Ripples

**Characters/pairing:** Rusl, Link

**Prompt:** Ripple effect

* * *

There's a fascinated boy crouching by the edge of the pool, a small fishing rod in both hands, gazing at where the bobber sends ripples out from around it.

Rusl kneels beside him, catching his shoulder when Link leans a little too far over. The rod is his own from when he was a kid - he's glad to see it in eager hands. Ilia has no interest in fishing, and otherwise it would go to waste. Such a little thing can make the boy so happy...

"What are the circles?" the boy asks, pointing at the ripples, and Rusl dips a finger in to the pool.

"They're called ripples," he explains. "Even the smallest thing can make big ripples." And to demonstrate, he picks up a pebble, shows it to Link, then gently drops it in.

Ripples spend outward, mixing with the ones from the bobber, lapping gently against the the rocks.

Link watches, fascinated, then throws in a rock himself. "Anything?" he asks, his voice small.

"Anything."

Link watches for another moment, then he nods thoughtfully and and grins.

Rusl grins back. He has the feeling that Link will make big ripples one day.


	10. Hope Springs Eternal

**Title:** Hope Springs Eternal

**Characters/pairing:** Impa, Sheik

**Prompt:** Spring

* * *

She finds him on the roof, legs pulled up to his chest, arms around them with snow in his hair. It's still falling - big thick flakes swirling in the wind, catching in the light from unshuttered windows and alighting on the motionless Sheikah.

She doesn't scold him immediately, doesn't demand that he come back inside with her. Instead, she merely stands there, watching the boy - he's no close relative, but at some point, he has become family.

"You'll catch your death out here," she tells him, no trace of her usual harshness in her voice.

He snorts quietly beneath the cowl, finally unlocking his limbs. "Of course. And that would ruin your plans, wouldn't it?" His voice is soft, bitter.

She sighs, and moves to sit beside him. "Yes, it would," she tells him. And when he turns to her, red eyes wide with indignation, she adds, "And your role would be taken by another. But..." And she lets a little smile, sad and awkward, show on her face. "But I do not want that to happen."

He looks at her for a long moment, then shakes his head. "Even if there was another," he says softly, "I... don't want to go. Not this time."

She waits, silent.

"I'm scared," he chokes out, and buries his face in his arms again. His words are muffled. "I don't know if we will succeed. He's so young - and I don't want..." Not just muffled - now, his words are barely audible. "I don't want to lose him. To the inevitable or to Ganondorf."

There's a long silence, and finally, she reaches out to wrap an arm around his shoulders. Beneath the thin fabric of his uniform, she can feel him shaking.

"He will succeed," she murmurs, "And he will bring hope, and life, and joy." And she lifts his chin so he can look at her. "No matter how brief."

He nods slowly, and begins to relax. "I know," he whispers, and closes his eyes. "It is worth enduring the winter to know that the spring will return."

She nods, and they wait for the spring to return.


	11. One Last Look

**Title:** One Last Look

**Characters/pairing:** Sheik/Zelda

**Prompt:** Looking back

* * *

It's almost time.

It's the day they've been waiting for for seven years, and he's pacing the floor. Not long left, she tells him, she can feel the changes and ripples in the Sacred Realm even now. There's a feeling of things shifting, reality changing around the boy who has been sleeping for seven years - and now, the cool, dim silence is beginning to sing again.

There are only hours left.

She's waiting nearby, the cool, calm centre of his world. Her hair is braided, a few loose strands slipping free to caress her face, clear blue eyes watching him searchingly.

"You will succeed," she says gently, "And because you will, so will he, and then we'll be free again."

And he believes her, because it comes from her.

She crosses the dusty floor, rising up on her toes to brush a gentle kiss across his lips. "Good luck," she whispers.

He nods wordlessly, kisses her back, and turns to leave.

And when he turns back for one last look, he can see her, small and pale and beautiful against the darkness, and then she is gone.


	12. Dressups

**Title:** Dress-ups

**Characters/pairing:** Zelda and Sheik

**Prompt:** Crossdressing

* * *

"Hmm... I don't know."

Zelda raised an eyebrow, letting her hair tumble back down her back and setting her hands on her hips. "I think I look fine!" she protested, then gave him an impish grin. "I do believe it suits me better than you."

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Sheik tucked in the end of the bandage, settled neatly between Zelda's shoulder blades. "There are," he started tactfully, moving around to start pinning her hair up, "Very different physical traits between us. I am taller -"

"Barely! Give me a year, I'll catch up by then!"

"- I have broader shoulders, I have bangs, our colouring is totally different, you have wider hips and a smaller waist -"

Blue eyes glinting, she added innocently, "I have melons."

Sheik turned as red as his eyes. "You - Zelda!" he muttered, looking away hastily from the girl he saw as a little sister and her... melons, "Where did you learn language like that?"

"Impa's books!"

Privately, Sheik made a note to tell Impa to hide her smut where impressionable fifteen-year-old princesses couldn't find it.

Tugging Sheik's stolen cowl and tabard over her head, Zelda glanced down at herself and made a thoughtful sound. "Well, I don't quite look like you. But I do look cute, don't I?"

Sighing to himself, Sheik glanced back at her, a faint smile tugging at his lips. "Yes, quite cute."

Zelda smiled back, looking pleased. "Excellent! Now, let's put you in one of my dresses."

"Oka- what?"

This was going to be a long day...


	13. The Tunic

**Title:** The Tunic

**Characters/pairing:** Link/androgynous!Sheik**  
**

**Prompt:** Rain**  
**

* * *

The rain had hit without warning.

Link had laughed when the skies had opened up, seizing Sheik's hand in his as they made a break for Impa's house. He was pink in the face, warm all over, when they had got back - not just from the sudden run, but also from the softness of skin against skin, from the merriment he could see in Sheik's eyes above the ever-present mask.

"We're soaked," he announced (possibly unnecessarily) as Sheik closed the door behind them, pulling his hat off to shake his hair off. The Sheikah raised an eyebrow in amusement, wiping off the water that Link had sprayed everywhere.

"So I see," came the dry response, "You should get changed - it would not do well for the Hero of Time to fall ill."

Link smiled a little. "You should too," he encouraged - "I can wear my Zora tunic, and you can wear my Goron tunic. It's really warm."

_And it goes with your eyes,_ he added silently.

Sheik murmured agreeably, heading up to the loft to change, while Link busied himself with stripping off his wet gear, running a cloth over the Master Sword (it would not be good if it rusted), then dragging the Zora tunic over his head. He shivered - the Zora tunic seemed to be almost perpetually damp against his bare skin, another reason he had relinquished the more comfortable Goron tunic to Sheik.

Speaking of which...

The sound of bare feet landing against floorboards prompted Link to spin around, his eyes widening a fraction. He was right - the Goron tunic brought the red of Sheik's out in a fiery blaze, hair loose and damp and longer than Link had anticipated, face bare and smooth. The collar of the tunic gaped - it was made for someone bigger than the Sheikah, revealing fine collar bones and creamy skin.

As for the rest of the tunic, it effectively hid the lines of Sheik's body - until Link's attention was seized by the Sheikah's legs, finely muscled and smooth. His eyes traced the shape of an elegant calf muscle, lingering on rarely-seen bare feet.

"Has something caught your attention, Hero?" Sheik asked dryly, and Link's gaze leapt back up to the Sheikah's face. A smirk touched the uncovered lips. "Or perhaps you are simply enjoying the view."

"I'll say," Link grinned, and took a cautious step forward...


	14. Hero's Requiem

**Title:** Hero's Requiem

**Characters / pairing:** Link (Ocarina), Link (Skyward Sword prequel)

**Prompt:** Death on the battlefield.

**Author's note:** Inspired by the new timeline (Link dies in Ocarina, leading to Link to the Past and the classic games) and the official Skyward Sword prequel manga.

* * *

Link, crumpled where he had found himself, was in a state of disbelief.

With faded blue eyes, he watched as Zelda dropped to her knees, her hands slicked with blood, her face streaked with tears.

He watched as Ganon reached out, curling a massive hand around the Triforce.

He watched as Zelda gathered her remaining strength, crying out to the Sages, and Ganon screaming as the Sacred Realm tore him away.

And then all he could do was watch as Zelda got to her feet, expression emotionless until she reached a tangle of limbs, Farore green stained in Din red.

Link watched as Zelda mourned over his broken body, and he felt his own eyes burn with tears, his own hands stained as he sealed them over the killing wound.

He had failed, then - died in the line of duty, failed to prevent Ganondorf from succeeding. And now help was beyond him - he could not comfort Zelda, could not explain to the Kokiri or the Gorons or the Zora what had happened to their loved ones. He could not help restore Hyrule to what it should have been.

He had failed, and he bowed his head in crushing guilt and grief.

"You have nothing to feel guilty for."

Slowly, Link raised his head. The voice had come from everywhere and nowhere - a soft, comforting note in his head.

"You have nothing to apologise for. Every step you took from your home was done solely to help others - no one can ever begrudge you because of this."

The speaker was approaching, and for a moment, Link thought it to be a reflection - an image of himself. But no - this man was older, his eyes ancient and weary. Golden armour gleamed beneath the tattered cloak, glinted around his wrists. The hem of the tunic was different, the boots were tied differently.

But for all their differences, the man standing before him could have been Link himself - a Link who had not failed, whose life had not ended at sixteen years old at the hands of an enemy too powerful for him.

"That's not true, actually," the man told him, and a quiet, gentle smile crossed his face. Somehow, Link had the impression that it was rare - that there were no smiles when he had lived.

Because the garish red that stained the green tunic definitely indicated that he was no longer amongst the living.

Much like Link himself, he supposed.

"Did you fail too?" Link asked dully, and the man exhaled, settling down crosslegged next to the fallen hero.

"I did not," he answered calmly, "And neither did you. You and I - we are alike in a way that none before and none after are. We succeeded. The hateful creature we sought to defeat is gone. And in the process, our lives were stolen away." The smile became sad, softly bitter. "We are not so much heroes as sacrifices, I suppose. But it was willing, for me. I would have died for them."

And, silently, Link nodded. "I would have died for them," he echoed numbly, and drew his hand away from the wound. It came away clean. "For my friends and - for Hyrule. Even though I don't really know it."

Again, that soft, sad smile. "And you think yourself to blame?" The man stood, extending a hand out to him. "Stand, Hero. You have nothing to be ashamed of."

Link gazed up at him for a moment, then, slowly, placed his hand in his.

A hand settled on his shoulder - comforting, almost familial. "Look," the man said simply. "Even through the dark - a new day awaits."

Softly, Link smiled. And with blame left behind and a friend at his side, the two started off - ready for whatever came next.


End file.
